1690624596What is a sprint race in F1 and how does new qualifying shootout work?On Saturday, instead of what was seen as a generally pointless second practice session on Saturday, a new ‘sprint shootout’ will take place to form the starting grid for the sprint race later in the day.
It will follow the same Q1-Q2-Q3 format but the session times will be shorter than traditional qualifying: Q1 will be 12 minutes, Q2 will be 10 minutes and Q3 will be eight minutes.
NEW SPRINT WEEKEND FORMAT
Friday: Free Practice 1; qualifying (for Sunday’s Grand Prix)
Saturday: Sprint qualifying; sprint race (Top-eight receive points, finish order will have no impact on Grand Prix grid)
Sunday: Grand Prix
How many points are on offer?
P1 – Eight points
P2 – Seven points
P3 – Six points
P4 – Five points
P5 – four points
P6 – three points
P7 – two points
P8 – one point
Kieran Jackson29 July 2023 10:56
1690624356Driver Standings ahead of Belgian Grand Prix1) Max Verstappen – 281 points
2) Sergio Perez – 171 points
3) Fernando Alonso – 139 points
4) Lewis Hamilton – 133 points
5) George Russell – 90 points
6) Carlos Sainz – 87 points
7) Charles Leclerc – 80 points
8) Lando Norris – 60 points
9) Lance Stroll – 45 points
10) Esteban Ocon – 31 points
11) Oscar Piastri – 27 points
12) Pierre Gasly – 16 points
13) Alex Albon – 11 points
14) Nico Hulkenberg – 9 points
15) Valtteri Bottas – 5 points
16) Zhou Guanyu – 4 points
17) Yuki Tsunoda – 2 points
18) Kevin Magnussen – 2 points
19) Logan Sargeant – 0 points
20) Nyck de Vries – 0 points
21) Daniel Ricciardo – 0 points
Kieran Jackson29 July 2023 10:52
1690624056Sprint shootout odds: Fancy a flutter?
Max Verstappen – 1/2
Lando Norris – 7/1
Sergio Perez – 11/1
Carlos Sainz – 16/1
Oscar Piastri – 16/1
Lewis Hamilton – 16/1
Charles Leclerc – 20/1
George Russell – 20/1
Fernando Alonso – 25/1
Kieran Jackson29 July 2023 10:47
1690623936Carlos Sainz interview: ‘All of us at Ferrari expected more – we haven’t done the best job’Exclusive interview by Kieran Jackson
Silverstone, 2022. That was the moment a goal within touching distance for so long was finally grasped by Carlos Sainz. Fittingly, his first pole position of his career was duly followed by a first Formula 1 race win, in his 150th grand prix. Ferrari were back among the top contenders and Sainz, this time, was the leading man ahead of his team-mate Charles Leclerc. The Scuderia were a force at the front once more. Or so we thought.
Despite producing a race-winning car, Ferrari failed to capitalise last year amid strategy and reliability clangers. Red Bull leapfrogged the calamitous prancing horse – and have not looked back. Now, Ferrari have not won since Austria last year, just a week after Sainz’s inaugural triumph. They are fourth in the Constructors’ Championship at the halfway stage this season. Sainz has not even finished on the podium.
“I thought we’d be fighting for more podiums and wins but unfortunately it’s a very competitive team called Red Bull who are dominating,” Sainz tells The Independent.
Kieran Jackson29 July 2023 10:45
1690623636What is the starting grid for Sunday’s grand prix?1) Charles Leclerc
2) Sergio Perez
3) Lewis Hamilton
4) Carlos Sainz
5) Oscar Piastri
6) Max Verstappen*
7) Lando Norris
8) George Russell
9) Fernando Alonso
10) Lance Stroll
11) Yuki Tsunoda
12) Pierre Gasly
13) Pierre Gasly
14) Valtteri Bottas
15) Esteban Ocon
16) Alex Albon
17) Zhou Guanyu
18) Logan Sargeant
19) Daniel Ricciardo
20) Nico Hulkenberg
*Max Verstappen receives a five-place grid drop for exceeding his gearbox allocation
Kieran Jackson29 July 2023 10:40
1690623336Max Verstappen fastest in Belgian GP qualifying despite X-rated row with race engineerQualifying report
Verstappen was embroiled in a squabble with Gianpiero Lambiase after he only just made it through to Q3 during a wet-dry session at Spa-Francorchamps.
But the championship leader regained his composure at the business end of qualifying to demolish the opposition, finishing eight tenths clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with Sergio Perez third in the other Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth.
However, Verstappen will only start Sunday’s race from sixth position as he serves a five-place grid drop for exceeding his gearbox allocation.
Full report below:
Kieran Jackson29 July 2023 10:35
1690623192F1 Belgian Grand Prix – sprint shootout Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of ‘sprint day’ at the Belgian Grand Prix!
It’s the third sprint weekend of the season and for the first time in Formula 1, the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit plays host to the intense weekend of action on track.
Max Verstappen was fastest in Friday’s grand prix qualifying but Charles Leclerc will start on pole for tomorrow’s grand prix as a result of Verstappen’s five-place grid drop.
But none of that has any bearing on today, when the sprint shootout this morning will decide the order for the sprint race this afternoon!
The sprint shootout starts at 11am! And it’s once again raining in the Ardennes!
(Getty Images)
Kieran Jackson29 July 2023 10:33
